"It shouldn't have happened, it shouldn't have got this far, and I want justice, I want justice for African-American girls and boys," said the boy's mother, LaToya Downs, according to a Sacramento CBS affiliate.
The Sacramento Bee reports that police have launched a broad review of the case.
Mark Harris of the Ben Crump law firm, who represents, Harris said that the boy "had visions of Eric Garner in his head" while underneath the spit hood.
According to Scaramento police, two patrolling officers saw the boy running from a security guard and went to assist.
-RW
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ReplyDeleteExcellent points.
DeleteI agree that, in this instance, it's hard to see how private security would have acted differently once they had him in their grip (your experienced comments are very persuasive).
DeleteBut we could ponder whether that moment would have come to pass in a private-property world.
First, it's possible that private security wouldn't have been holding him down in the first place, so there would have been no spitting. The article says "According to Scaramento police, two patrolling officers saw the boy running from a security guard and went to assist." Maybe the (private) security guard just wanted to get the kid running away to leave the property, and that would have been sufficient, yet the article makes it seem like the armed government workers (AGWs) took it upon themselves to "assist." We hear lots of stories about violence escalating when AGWs get involved when they should have walked away or de-escalated. Maybe a passing private security guard might have let things be (unless the kid came on the property that he was protecting).
Second, in a private-property world, where security would be more defensive than the way AGWs act today, and likely initially more friendly -- property owners might not want aggressive security pissing off visitors, customers, neighbors, etc. -- security guards wouldn't have as bad a reputation within certain ethnic groups for violence as AGWs do today. In turn, that might lead to calmer confrontations between security and would-be petty violators.
"Certainly, we don't let the person spit on you."
DeleteIf the only thing someone can do is spit on you, I think you've already won.
People have been restraining 12 year olds without putting their heads in bags for thousands of years, but all of a sudden the tough guys in blue are brought to their knees by saliva. Cry me a river. Do they make a tear bags?
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DeleteMaybe before certain diseases??
DeleteI remember when I was a kid. When confronted by the cops, I would just spit on them. That made them go away. Or, was that just my white privilege?
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame the spit bag is ventilated.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it looks bad but I dont think it's reasonable to expect anyone to just stand there and take getting spit on.
ReplyDeleteSo, the horror and tragedy is what---that the boy got scared? So what?! He brought it on himself, and was not actually harmed.
ReplyDeleteNothing to see here folks, let's move along...
Looks like much ado about nothing , the people complaining in the video sound like hysterical mental cases. I wonder how they would react if the cops spit in their faces? Then there would be a feigned national outrage over that.
ReplyDeleteThe mother of the 12 year old boy told the cops after they told her that her son can’t spit in an officers face, “He don’t know that. He’s a boy. Y’all scare him.”
ReplyDeleteA 12 year old doesn’t know not to spit in people’s faces, let alone cops that scare him? That a 12 year old has learned to interact with others in such a manner is the main problem.
The mother goes on to say, "Do you know how many times he got in front of police officers and they’ve been racist to him?” That a 12 year old has had multiple incidences with cops is another big problem whether racism is involved or not. She said, “…he was in fear of his life.” Based on his actions that is hard to believe.
On the surface it appears we have a horrible mother that has raised a horrible boy interacting with cops who, as anyone paying attention knows, will not allow their authority to be disrespected.
I agree with The NAPster. If we were in a PPS this incident would have be handled with less violent manner. If the PPS had been in existence for say a decade or so these types of incidences would occur far less than they do now. Prosperity and all of the things that go with it would be more prevalent so there would be less ill-mannered mothers, kids and cops.